Hall and Oates, I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)

Posted in Hall and Oates, Youtube Favs on December 20th, 2011 by Willie

Oh the hits keep rolling for Hall and Oates.  “I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do),” was a #1 for Daryl and John in 1981, and another track that set the tone for 80s pop.  Their embarrassing cover art for the single also help set trends of decadent ugliness for the 80s as well.  Pop music from the 1980s had many uniting broad themes from futurism, celebration, dark sexuality, and paranoia.  “I Can’t Go For That” has those trademarks in spades.  It also holds the distinction for being the first song by a non-African American group to top the R&B charts.  Daryl Hall, the songs primary writer, was most pleased with this achievement, stating, “I’m the head soul brother in the U.S.  Where to now?”  Good question.  One direction led to an even bigger hit, Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean.”  Michael admitted to Daryl that he copped the bass line from “I Can’t Go For That” for his own ultra-smash hit, to which Daryl replied, ‘I took that bass line from someone else to begin with, and that it’s “something we all do.”‘  That reminds me of another theme in 80s pop, superstar collaboration.  It’s as if their was one continuous party of mega rich famous rock stars, who all inflated each others egos, and played on each others records.  Heady times, heady coke fueled times indeed…

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Hall and Oates, You Make My Dreams Come True, FTW

Posted in Hall and Oates, Youtube Favs on December 17th, 2011 by Willie

I never thought I’d be adding a “Hall and Oates” section to my website, but on December 17th, 2011, it apparently has happened.  Actually, I’ve been slowly enjoying Hall and Oates a bit over the last few years, getting hooked on the single “I Can’t Go For That,” and hearing a fantastic sounding Daryl Hall on the Howard Stern show a few weeks ago.  The song in the cross-hairs today is “You Make My Dreams Come True,” a top ten hit from 1980.  It has popped up irrepressibly in a bunch of modern Hollywood movies and TV shows including “500 Days of Summer,” “Step Brothers,” and “King of the Hill.”  The song just makes people happy and want to dance, and I’m tired of denying its power.  I’ve come to have embrace its gorgeous keyboard/electric guitar attack rhythm section and blue eyed soul vocal delivery.  That addictive and high pitched guitar stutter reminds me of the Beatles’ “Getting Better,” possibly the happiest song of all time, and its doo-wop heavily processed backing vocals make it a total 80s classic, paving the way for the general sound of 80s pop.  So, in conclusion, my advice is this; turn this song up to 11, pour some lemonade, and play this song 4 times in a row.  Hall and Oates, FTW.

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